Rural crime watch associations across the province are really starting to embrace technology in the fight against criminals, says Gerald Ingeveld.
The president of the Olds, Sundre, Didsbury Rural Crime Watch Association, Ingeveld says having the more than 50 rural crime watch associations in the province working together and sharing technology is a long-term goal worth pursuing.
Speaking following the recent provincial rural crime watch association zone 2 meeting in Mountain View County, Ingeveld said cooperation and innovation remain key to successful crime fighting.
“I’m really encouraged by the new technologies that are popping up,” he said. “I’ve said for awhile that we need to move into the 21st century to combat the crooks.
“We need to be getting the call-out system to the provincial level. We need to figure out some way to manage the call-outs provincial-wide. Things need to be developed.
“We need to be prepared to pin our ears back and have some conversations with the Solicitor General and the RCMP and take a look at what they have, what we have and where we can improve.”
Finding funds to develop a provincewide call-out system will be one of the challenges going forward, he said.
There are several exciting new technologies coming to the forefront in the province, members heard during the recent zone meeting.
Those technologies include stolen vehicle tracking systems that are both effective and resistant to countermeasures by criminals.
There are also new web-based applications being developed that will allow residents to report and track crime quickly and effectively.
One such technology is being developed by the Cochrane Foothills Protection Association.
Rosemary Lindsay, with the Cochrane group, made a presentation at the recent zone meeting on the "Reporter" web application under development.
The prototype version of Reporter is set to be launched by the CFPA this month.
The system’s initial functionality will allow users to view all incidents reported by fellow crime watch members, to report non-emergency incidents tagged geographically with GPS coordinates, view non-emergency reporting contact information, and view all incidents reported by members within a date range.
“In recognition that crime knows no boundaries, there is no real limitation to where incidents can be reported as occurring,” she said. “If the location has a GPS coordinate, it can be reported and displayed with Reporter, she said.
Future functionality of the Reporter system could include the addition of automatic notification of incidents in a specific area of concern, and support the inclusion of photos or other media to incidents.
“We are all the ‘eyes and ears’ in our respective communities, and the better we share information about what’s happening, the harder it becomes for criminals to take advantage of rural communities,” she said.
